A contrastive analysis on passive voice in english and vietnamese”

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First and formost, I would like to thank all the teachers of Foreign Languages
Department at Hai Phong University for their support in the whole four years that I
have studied here.
In addition, I am honored to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor,
Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thuy Giang for her constant support and all-round supervision.
Not only knowledge but also encouragement from her made me inspired and
motivated to overcome difficulties. Without her, the thesis could not be completed.
With no less sincerity, my friends in class English Major B academic year 13
brought me a strong motivation to complete the paper.
Last but not least, all my heart is delighted to my family, especially my
parents because of their emotional and technical supports. They are always beside
me and inspire me to try my best.

i


SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS
S
V
O
C
P.P
C-V
E.g.

Subject
Verb
Object
Complement
Past Participle

Subject - Predicate
Example

ii


TABLE OF CONTENTS

iii


PART ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale of the study
According to Asher R.E. (1994:4938), “Linguists use the term voice in a
number of senses” and “the broadest definition of voice encompassing a wide range
of grammatical constructions that are commonly thought to be quite distinct from
those related by the active- passive alternation”. In this view, the term voices in
general and passive voice in particular do exist in all languages. In Vietnamese, the
debates around the passive voice have lasted for several stages. In the early days of
Vietnamese research, the concept of passive construction was accepted.
The rules applied here, however, were rigidly transformed from European
languages. The inappropriate features of these artificial sentences lead to the refusal
of passive constructions in the next stage of Vietnamese research. While the
concept of voice in general and passive voice in particular is familiar to the English,
it is an abstract concept to have to deal with the passive constructions.
There have been several studies of the passive voice in English and the
passive contrast between English and Vietnamese. These researchers, however,
neither confirm the existence of the passive in Vietnamese nor point out the
difference in decisive factors to passive usage in two languages.
Passive voice is one of the most difficult grammar points that make students

confused so much about both its function and its equivalent meaning when they
translate a passive sentence into an active one in Vietnamese.
For example:
“I was born in Ho Chi Minh city” (Passive) and “Tôi sinh ra ở thành phố Hồ
Chí Minh” (Active)
As we can see, the English sentence above is written in passive form while
the Vietnamese one is in active but they have the same meaning. It is not always
that a passive sentence in English will be translated into a passive one in
Vietnamese. The reseachers are sure that many students who learn English as a
second language can hardly know when to use a passive form correctly.

1


Or “The two houses are built near one another” and “Hai cái nhà này xây
gần nhau”.
From the point of view of English grammar, one might ask: How can a house
be built by itself? There must be someone to build the house. But in Vietnamese,
they are complete sentences. There is no difference in meaning between the two
sentences although the word orders between the two are different. One reason is that
the object of the verb can be tropicalized, often resulting in a sentence translated
with an English passive.
In this study, the researcher will discuss the similarities and differences of
passive sentences in English and Vietnamese. The similarities between the two
languages are that passive voice is used to emphasize the action, not the causes of
the action. However, in English, we tend to use more passive sentences while
people prefer to use more active form in Vietnamese. To help Vietnamese students
study Passive voice in English more easily, this essay will make a contrastive
analysis on passive voice in English and Vietnamese.
Having better awareness of the importance of English grammar, the

researcher decided to clarify the study of her graduation paper. However, due to the
limitation of time and knowledge, the researcher will just spend time concentrating
on the study of “A contrastive analysis on passive voice in English and
Vietnamese”. The researcher hope that it will become useful for those who study
English Grammar in general and the passive voice in particular.
1.2. Research questions
This paper is aimed at answering these main questions:
 What is passive voice in English and Vietnamese?
 Is there passive voice in Vietnamese?
 What are the similarities and differences between English and
Vietnamese passive voice?
1.3. Aims of the study

The study “A contrastive analysis on passive voice in English and
Vietnamese” attempts to:

2


 Introduce passive voice and some views about passive voice in English
and Vietnamese.
 Give the list of their usage.
 Present and classify some verb forms and special forms of the passive
voice in English and Vietnamese.
 Show the expressions of “bị” and “được” in Vietnamese
 Find out the similarities and differences in construction of the passive
voice in English and its Vietnamese equivalents.
 Give some implications for English teaching and learning of the passive
voice
1.4. Scope of the study

This study focuses on the contrastive analysis on passive voice in English
and Vietnamese (the comparisons). In this thesis, the passive is viewed from
different grammatical aspects based on the definitions, classifications, usage and
structures in both English and Vietnamese will be taken as the basis for the
comparison and contrast.
1.5. Methods of the study
The main purpose of this study is to find out the contrastivepassive voice in
English and Vietnamese. Therefore the researcher uses the documentary method
included collecting, analyzing and giving examples to make language learning and
teaching more effective. Document analysis is used to find out all the passive voice
from a variety of books and valuable resources such as internet, magazines,
previous graduation papers, etc. Besides, examples are used to illustrate given
information which are extracted from a variety of textbooks and resources.
In addition, comparison is indispensable method to point out similarities and
differences of passive voice in English and in Vietnamese.
1.6. Organization of the study
This graduation paper is divided into threeparts: The Introduction, the
Development and the Conclusion.

3


The Introduction briefly introduces the thesis included: Rationale, Research
questions, Aims of the study, Scope of the study, Methods of the study, Organization
of the study.
In the Development, it contains four chapters: Chapter one and two will
present all the theoretical background about English and Vietnamese passive voice.
Chapter threecontains all the analysis that the researcher obtains after
researchingsome data and document about passive voice. In chapter four, she gives
some necessary implicatures for learners in teaching and learning.

Part three is the conclusion which summarizes the contents and results in the
thesis.

4


PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER ONE: PASSIVE VOICE IN ENGLISH
1.1. Definition
Passive voice is not a derivative of active voice, which is the outcome of
people’s different meaning expression. Passive voice describes the whole process of
certain event from the patient’s point of view. It is a marked form of voice. There
are three markers in passive voice: Be, -Ed and by which has its meaning and
significance respectively. Typical passives could be classified into two categories,
passive with agent and passive without agent, or, agentive passive and non-agentive
passive. In the agentive passive, the agent will not appear but will be implicit in the
context.
According to Homby (2005), voice, in term of grammar, is the form of a verb
that shows whether the subject of a sentence performs an action (the active voice) or
is affected by it (passive voice).
Stillman (2010) said that voice refers to whether the subject of a sentence is
on the giving or receiving end of the action”.
In another project, Farlex (Inc.,2010) also considered that more specifically,
passive voice is the voice used to indicate that the grammatical subject of the verb is
the recipient (not the source) of the action denoted by the verb”.
In general, a passive sentence is one that reflects the above-mentioned
feature of passive voice.
In this sentence “All the assignments were done by Kelvin”, the recipient
“assignment” is denoted and emphasized by the verb “do”, not the agent “Kelvin”;
therefore, this is a passive sentence.

A general rule is to use the passive voice only when the doer or the agent in
your sentence (the person or thing acting) is unknown or is unimportant or when
you want to connect the topics of the two clauses.
Ex: The pandas are rare. Two of them will be returned to the wild.
He had a lot people working for him, maybe sixty, and almost of them liked
him most of the time. Three of the will be seriously considered for his job.

5


1.2. Classification
1.2.1. Quirk’s view on classification of passive voice
The passive construction has been classified in many different ways.
Summarizing the discussion of the passive scale in the “A grammar of
contemporary English” (1972), Quirk set up the following subcategories.
1.2.1.1. Agentive passives
Agentive passive sentences are where the doer or the agent is explicitly
expressed by the proposition “by” plus agent. Sentence (1) The butler murdered the
detective and (2) The detective was murdered by the butler have a direct passiveactive relation. The difference between the next two is that the former has a
personal, the latter a non-personal agent:
(3) My father made this violin.
(4) The results hardly justify this conclusion.
With expressed agents:
(5) Coal has been replaced by oil. This is a passive with two possible active
transforms depending on the interpretation of the by-phrase.
(6) Oil has replaced coal.
(7) (People in many countries) have replaced coal by oil.
Sentence (6) is an active transform like (4) with a non-personal agent; (7) is
inactive transform where the by-phrase has been given an instrumental
interpretation (by=with). Consequently an active subject must be supplied.

Without expressed agents:
(8) This difficulty can be avoided in several ways.
Sentence (8) exemplified the most common type of passive, which has no
expressed agent, or agentless passives.
1.2.1.2. Quasi-passives
Quasi means seemingly or looking almost like. That is, a verb is called quasi
passive when its use almost looks like passive but actually it is active in syntactic
and semantic structure. Examples: Rice sells cheap, meaning rice is cheap when it is
sold. Honey tastes sweet, meaning honey is sweet when it is tasted.

6


Their surface structure operates on one level which is apparently passive, but
their meaning emerges from the deep structure which is actually active in function.
(9) We are encouraged to go on with the project.
(10) John was interested in linguistics.
The passive sentences, (9) and (10) represent a “mixed” class whose
members have both verbal and adjectival properties. They are verbal in having
active analogues:
(11) (The results) encourage us to go on with the project.
(12) Linguistics interested John.
1.2.1.3.

Non-agentive

passives/

intensive

active

complement construction.
The study in complement construction either non-agentive passives or
intensive active shows us the sentence without the agent often expressed by the
proposition “BY” in the passive voice and the complement in the active voice.
(13) The modern world becomes more highly industrialized and mechanized.
Sentence (13) has no active transform or possibility of agent addition, since
no “performer” is conceived of. The participles have adjectival values: compare
industrialized-industrial and mechanized-mechanical. Besides a number of such
“resulting” verbs ending in –ize (organize, Americanized, etc.), this class includes
“existing” constructions, as in
(14) The house is already sold.
The corresponding active of which are not (15) but (16).
(15) (The agent) already sells the house.
(16) (The agent) has already sold the house.
In this case, voice transformation involves aspectual shift from present to
present perfect.
While it is clear that (13) and (14) are not “passive” in the sense of
sentences, they still satisfy the formal passive requirement and, as in the case of
(14), often have an “indirect” voice relationship. We will therefore call this class
“non-agentive passive/ intensive active complement constructions”, recognizing

7


that The house is already sold. It is related both to agentive passive The house has
already been sold and to the intensive (active) complement construction.
(17) The house is already gone/ no longer available.
1.2.2. Quirk’s another passive scale

Quirk also gives more views on passive voice in English in A grammar of
contemporary English[Quirk, et al, 1972, 266-231] through his passive scale.
Quirk’s passive scale
Central passive or true passive
Pseudo-passive
With current With resulting
Semi-passive
Without
With agentive
or
mixed copula verbs, copula verbs,
agentive
phrase
e.g., be, feel, e.g.,
get,
passive
phrase
look
become, grow
Table 1: Quirk’s passive scale
1.2.3. Granger’s view
Granger (1983, et al, 81-190) has concentrated on “The be+past participle
construction in spoken English”, and classified it into seven categories, namely,
passives, adjectival pseudo-passives, verbal pseudo-passives mixed be+Ved
combinations, usually passive category, peripheral combinations and stative
combinations.
Examples from (18) to (24) illustrate them respectively:
(18) That attitude was maintained by the government in the future nine days
of debates in the Lords.
(19) Perhaps the tick is rather more complicated.

(20) She’s been rather elusive as far as I’m concerned, so I don’t really know her.
(21) I am amazed at the price of houses out here.
(22) I feel we’re all faced with this problem.
(23) I’m fairly closely connected with that work.
(24) But I have these two houses that are built on to the next door’s back
garden sort of thing.

8


Granger’s classification is in great detail. Actually the latter four categories
are the borderline cases and they are very much related to, and sometimes can be
put into the first category.
1.3. Structures
It can be said that passive voice is one of the most popular grammatical
points in English. By tense we understand the correspondence between the form of
the verb and our concept of time.
The passive voice is commonly formed by combining a form of the "to be
verb" with the past participle (P.P) of the main verb BE + P.P. We call this type as
“Be passive”.
1.3.1. Common passive voice structures
All these structures below that we often catch them. We use a form of be +
past participle to form the passive voice. This form also can be used in various
tenses.
For example:
This house is built. (Simple present)
This house is being built at the present. (Present continuous)
This house will be built next month. (Simple future)
This house was built in 1990. (Simple past)
This house has been built for 20 days. (Present perfect)…

Here is the table of verbs in Passive voice in terms of 12 tenses.
Tenses
Simple present
Present
continuous
Simple past
Past continuous
Present perfect
Perfect

PASSIVE VOICE WITH 12 TENSES
Structures
Examples
am/ is/ are + PP.
This cake is made by my
am/ is/ are + being + PP.

mother.
This cake is being made by

was/ were + PP.

my mother.
This cake was made by my

was/ were + being + PP.

mother.
This cake was being made

has/ have + been + P.P

by my mother.
This cake has been made

has/ have + been+ being + P.P

by my mother.
This cake has been being

9


continuous
Past perfect
Past perfect
continuous
Simple future
Future
continuous
Future perfect
Future perfect
continuous

had + been + P.P

made by my mother.
This cake had been made

had + been+ being + P.P

by my mother.
This cake had been being

will + be + P.P

made by my mother.
This cake will be made by

will + be + being + P.P

my mother.
This cake will be being

will + have been + P.P

made by my mother.
This cake will have been

Will + have been being + P.P

made by my mother.
This cake will have been

being made by my mother.
Table 2: Passive voice verbs in term of 12 tenses

1.3.2. Special passive voice structure
1.3.2.1. Some special forms with passive meaning
In English, besides some special structures, there are some special forms

based on the kinds of verb and structures. In each type, they have respective
meanings. Here are some forms with passive meaning that the writer denoted.
1.3.2.1.1. Modal verb in the passive
We can use the passive with a modal verb (or an expression like have to).
Thomson (1986:263) gave the pattern in his report is:
Modal verb + be+ past participle
E.g.: The doors must/should be shut.
Eastwood (1994:136) also said that a modal verb can also go with the perfect
and the passive together. H gave the pattern is:
Modal verb + have been + past participle
E.g.: The plane might have been delayed by the fog.
1.3.2.1.2. The passive with “GET”
According to Thomson (1986:265),GET is sometimes used instead of bein
colloquial speech:
E.g.: You’ll get (=be) sacked if you take any more time off.

10


We use the passive with GET mainly in informal English, and it has a more
limited use than be. The passive with get expresses action and change, not a state. It
often refers to something happening by accident, unexpectedly or incidentally.
However, we do not use GET as this sentence:
E.g.:Wembly Stadium got built in 1923.
To use the verb GETreasonably, Alexander (1988:245) also mentioned
some rules as following:
 We do something to ourselves
E.g.: I got dressed as quickly as I could.
 We manage to arrange something in our favor. Reflexive pronouns can
often be used in such cases.

E.g.: I was not surprised when she got elected after all the efforts she made.
 Something often unfavorable happens beyond our control.
E.g.: We got delayed because of the holiday traffic.
1.3.2.1.3. The passive with verbs of reporting
 In term of reporting verbs in passive voice, firstly we should mark some

noting according to the following example:
Active: They say that elephants have good memories.
Passive: It is said that elephants have good memories.
Elephants are said to have good memories.
 In the second concern, here are four patterns with verbs of reporting:
(1) It + passive verb + finite clause
According to Eastwood (1994:138), this pattern is often used in news reports
where there is no need to mention the source of the information.
E.g.: It is said that there is plenty of oil off our coast.
It is feared that many lives have been lost in the train crash.
In this pattern we can use these verbs:
Admit
Agree
Allege
Announce
Assume
Believe

Declare
Discover
Establish
Estimate
Expect
Explain

Hope
Intend
Know
Mention
Notice
Object

11

Propose
Prove
Recommend
Regret
Report
Request

Show
State
Suggest
Suppose
Think
Understand


Claim
Consider
Decide

Fear

Feel
Find

Observe
Presume
Promise

Reveal
Say
See

(2) Subject + passive verb + to-infinitive
Hewings (1999:32) mentioned that an alternative to It + passive verb +
That-clause is to use Subject + passive verb + to-infinitive.
E.g.: It had been thought that the chemicals convey important information to
the brain.
=> The chemicals had been thought to convey important information to the
brain.
In this pattern, we can use these verbs:
Allege
Declare
Feel
Observe
Show
Assume
Discover
Find
Presume
Suppose
Believe

Estimate
Intend
Reveal
Think
Claim
Expect
Know
Say
Understand
Consider
Prove
Report
See
Mean
E.g.: Turner was considered to be a genius even in his lifetime.
Homeopathic remedies are believed to be very effective.
“The infinitive can also be perfect or continuous, or it can be passive.”
(Eastwood, 1994:138)
E.g.: The army was reported to be crossing the frontier.
The prisoner is known to have behaved violently in the past.
Stonehenge is thought to have been built over a period of 500 years.
Thomson (1986:268) referred that the suppose in the passive can be followed
by the present infinitive of any verb but this construction usually conveys an idea of
duty and is not therefore the normal equivalent of suppose in the active:
E.g.: You are supposed to know how to drive.
(3) It + passive verb + to-infinitive
“We can use this pattern only with the verbs agree, decide and
propose.”(Eastwood, 1994:139)
E.g.: Active: The committee agreed to support the idea.
Passive: It was agreed to support the idea.

(4) There + passive verb + to be + complement

12


In this last pattern, Alexander (1988:245) said that it can be used with limited
selection of verbs:
Acknowledge
Allege
Believe

Consider
Fear
Feel

Know
Presume
Report

Say
Think
Suppose

Understand

E.g.: There is said to be plenty of oil off our coast.
There are known to be thousands of different species of beetles.
1.3.2.1.4. The passive with verbs of giving
In the active sentence, Eastwood (1994:137) considered that the word
“GIVE” can have two objects.

E.g.: Active: The nurse gives the patient a sleeping pill.
Either of these objects can be the subject of passive sentence.
Passive: A sleeping pill is given to the patient.
The patient is given a sleeping pill.
Another example as:
A book was given to him. (The direct primary passive)
He was given a book. (The indirect secondary passive)
The indirect (secondary) passive is not infrequent in verb phrase with the
verb to give, such as: to give credit, to give command, to give an explanation, etc.
He was given a good chance to argue.
She is given an opportunity to go to the South in summer.
There are many verbs in English which take a direct and an indirect object in
the active construction, but they admit only one passive construction – the direct
passive.
Eastwood (1994:137) also denoted that we can use these verbs in the passive pattern:
Allow
Ask
Award
Bring
Buy

Deny
Feed
Find
Grant
Charge

Leave
Lend
Offer

Owe
Pass

Promise
Refuse
Send
Sell
Pay

1.3.2.1.5. The passive with “HAVE” and “GET”

13

Tell
Throw
Show
Teach
Hand


“HAVE/ GET” also a special form of passive voice that we should focus
on. Its form is:
Have/ Get + object + past participle
(This pattern means “cause something to be done”).
“It may describe situations where we want someone else to object something
for us.”(Eastwood, 1994:140)
E.g.: I had/got the machine repaired only last week.
If the verb refers to something negative or unwanted, it has the same
meaning as a passive sentence:
E.g.: Jim had his car stolen last night.

The construction can refer to the completion of an activity, especially if a
time expression is used.
E.g.: We’ll get the work done as soon as possible.
Both have and get are ordinary verbs which can be continuous and which can
take the auxiliary. Get is more formal than have.
E.g.: We’re having/getting a new kitchen fitted.
1.3.2.1.6. Prepositions with passive verbs
When a verb + preposition + object combination is put into the passive, the
preposition will remain immediately after the verb:
E.g.: Active: You can play with these cubs quite safely.
Passive: These cubs can be played with quite safely.
Thomson (1986:267) gave the similarly with verb + preposition/adverb
combinations:
E.g.: Active: They threw away the old newspapers.
Passive: The old newspapers were thrown away.
The prepositional passive is not used with verbs which take two objects,
direct and prepositional: to explain something to somebody, to point out, to
announce, to dedicate, to devote, to say, to suggest, to propose, etc. They can have
only a direct construction.
E.g.: The difficulty was explained to them.
The mistake to the rule was pointed out to the man.

14


Rayevska (1976:122) said that the prepositional passive is not very frequent
in occurrence. Its use is common with rather limited number of verbs, such as:
 Verbs of saying: to speak about (of, to), to talk about (of), to comment
on, etc.
E.g.: The new play was much spoken of.

 Verbs expressing scorn or contempt: to frown at, to laugh at, to mock at,
to jeer at, to sneer at, etc.
E.g.: He could not understand why his words were laughed at.
 A miscellaneous group of verbs, such as: to look at, to look upon (on), to
look after, to look for, to approve (disapprove) of, to account for, to send for, to rely
on, etc.
E.g.: Here is Irene to be thought of.

15


1.3.2.1.7. Pseudo-passives
Pseudo-passive has a copular verb followed by a predicate adjective that
looks similar or identical to the past participle. They refer to states without
reference to past events that brought about the states. In fact, some of these
adjectives were participles in earlier stages of English. Rotten is one such adjective,
the past participle function is now filled by rotted.
 “The rope had been rotted by damp salty air”.
But not this:
 “The rope had been rotten by the damp salty air”.
The 1st sentence with the participle rotted specifies a result as well as the
state of the rope, and a process of rotting caused by the dampness. The adjective
rotten, however, refers only to the state that is why it cannot occur with the by
phrase.
E.g.: The door was opened.
The door was open.
In the example above, it is easy enough to distinguish between the passives
and sentences with adjectives because the participles are at past participle and the
adjective are identical.
e.g.: The door was shut by the butler.

The door was shut.
The factory was closed by the inspectors.
The factory was closed.
According to Jacob (1995:166), the first sentence of each pair refers to the
actual event of door shutting or factory-closing. The second sentence of each pair
however is ambiguous. If shut and closed are interpreted as adjectives the door and
the factory are just not open. But these words could be past participles, in which
case the sentence would refer to the event, the action of closing.
1.3.2.2. Some special structure
Based on the special forms, in this particular type, English learners should
also pay attention to these nine special cases of the passive voice. They are:

16


 Modal verbs
We use the modal + be + past participle.
Present: I can be misunderstood.
Future:

I could be misunderstood.

Past:

I could have been misunderstood.

 Causative form
Passive voice with causative forms: HAVE, GET
Active:

S+ have/ get + O (person) + bare infinitive + O

Passive: S + have/ get + O (thing) + P.P (+by +O [person])
o For example:
I get her to make some coffee.
→ I get some coffee made.
 Verbs of perception: SEE, WATCH, HEAR….
Active:

S + V+ O + bare infinitive/ V-ing…

Passive: S + be + P.P + to infinitive/ V-ing…
For example:
They saw her come in.
→ She was seen to come in.
 Verbs of opinion: SAY, THINK, BELIEVE, REPORT, RUMOR…
Active:

S + V + (that) + clause (S2 + V2 + O2…)

Passive: S2 + be + P.P + to-infinitive…..
+ to have + P.P…..
For example:
People say that he is a famous doctor.
→ It is said that he is a famous doctor.
→ He is said to be a famous doctor.
They thought that Mary had gone away.
→ It was thought that Mary had gone away.
→ Mary was thought to have gone away.
 Imperative sentence.

Active: V + O + Adjunct

17


Passive: Let + O + be + P.P + Adjunct.
For example:
He let me go out.
→ I was let to go.
→ I was allowed to go out.
 Intransitive verbs
Some verbs such as:HAPPEN, OCCUR, and TRY (to) are not used in the
passive voice.
For example: The ceremony was happened yesterday.
Morality is an issue that was tried to explain by many philosophers.
 Reduced relative clause
For example: None of the people invited to the party can come.
The money stolen in the robbery was never found.
 Past infinitive: must have, should have, …
For example: My bicycle must have been stolen.
The window should have been cleaned yesterday.
 Verb + Object 1 + Object 2
For example: Ann was offered a job.
A job is offered to Ann.
 Verb + Gerund
For example: I don’t like being told what to do.
I remember being given a present on my seventh birthday
 V-ing with passive meaning
For example: The grass need cutting
1.4. Usage

The passive voice is used more often in writing than in speaking. However,
there are some particular cases in which the passive voice is employed, especially
when:
1.4.1. Emphasizing the recipient/ the topic
Let’s consider the following examples:
 Thomson discovered the electron.

18


 The electron was discovered by Thomson.
According to Eastwood (1994:132), it can be easy to know that the two
sentences above have the same meaning, but they have different topic: they are
about different things. The topic of the first sentence is “Thomson”, and the topic of
the second is “the electron”. In active voice, the focus of interest is on the agent or
the doer/performer of the action (Thomson), but in passive voice the focus of
interest is on the action or the receiver of the action (the electron).
In fact, only about 20% of passive sentences mention the agent (Richard &
Guy, 1999, p. 34). In fact in many cases the performer of the action is not
important, not known or it is so obvious, widely known in that it is so popular. For
instance, English is spoken all over the world, in this sentence; it goes without
saying that the agents are the people from around the world. Another instance is he
was killed in his room, the doer of the action kill in this sentence not stated because
no one knows who the killer is.
1.4.2. Stressing new information
A sentence contains a topic and also new information about the topic. The new
information usually come at or near the end of the sentence and is the point of interest.
E.g.: I was surprised by the news.
The speaker wants to stress the information provided in the sentence.
Moreover, we use passive in order not to start with too long phases as subjects in

sentences so that the naturalness of the sentences are lucidly expressed. Take We
were surprised by the number of people trying to leave the city for the long
weekend. as an example. The naturalness of this sentence is undoubtedly better than
The number of people trying to leave the city for the long weekend surprises us.
In passive sentence the point of interest can be other information such as
time, place, manner or instrument.
E.g.: The gas should be lit with a match.
1.4.3. Avoiding responsibility
When we want to avoid responsibility: when the active voice seems
indiscreet, we can use passive voice to avoid assigning responsibility for the action.
For example: You made this machine out of order.
This machine was made out of order

19


1.4.4. Removing an unessential agent
When we do not know who the performer of the action is, the performer will
be dropped from the sentence.
E.g.: Her car has been stolen (by someone)
(We do not know who stole her car)
In a passive sentence we mention the agent only if it is important
information. There is often no need to mention it.
E.g.: Nine million cigarettes are smoked.
There is no need to say that nine million cigarettes are smoked by smokers
all over the world. So we do not need use “by + agent”. Sometimes we don’t know,
or don’t know exactly, or have forgotten who did the action.
E.g.: The minister was murdered.
In spoken English we often use a subject such as people, somebody, they, we
or you even we do not know who the agent is. In formal English, particularly

writing, we often prefer to use a passive.
E.g.: The new computer system is being installed next month.
1.4.5. Using in typical contexts
We can use the passive in speech, but it is more common in writing,
especially in impersonal style of textbook and reports.
• Formal notices and announcements
E.g.: Candidates are required to present themselves fifteen minutes before
the examination begins. They are asked to be punctual. Passengers are requested
to remain seated until the aircraft come to a complete stop.
• Press report
E.g.: The search for the bank robbers continues. Meanwhile, many people
have been questioned and the owner of the stolen getaway car has been traced.
• Headlines, advertisements, notices, act.
E.g.: KENEDY ASSASSINATED! TRADE AGREEMENTS BROKEN!
PRICES SLASHED! ALL GOODS REDUCED! PETROL COUPONS ACCEPTED
• Scientific writing (to describe process)
E.g.: The mixture is placed in a crucible and is heated to a temperature of
3000C. It is then allowed to cool before it can analyze.

20


CHAPTER TWO:
PASSIVE VOICE IN VIETNAMESE
2.

NHGG

2.1. Definition
In contrast with English, Vietnamese is an austral and Asiatic language, its

basic grammar is the word order. Vietnamese words do not change form, even the
verbs. So we cannot base on the form of the verb or grammar to determine whether
a sentence is active or passive. We also cannot base on grammar structure because
there are some cases in which the structure of an active sentence cannot be
recognized.
According to Palmer (1994), passive constructions do not exist, and passive
meanings are expressed through verbs of experiencing and becoming, as well as
subject or topic markers. However, Nguyen (1987) pointed out that the passive
voice in Vietnamese can be also expressed by means of clause subordination that
depend on whether the action of the clause has adversative outcomes to the clause
subject or topic.
Phi Nguyen Khac in Literature 7 of Ministry of education and training said
that passive voice in Vietnamese is the sentence having a subject indicating a
person, an object or more which are impacted by other people or objects (indicating
to the object of activity).
In contrast to the active voice, the passive voice is used in writing reflexively
than in normal speech, and is used to write in texts than the others. Passive voice is
appeared in almost the press (magazines) rather than in the other kinds of story such
as: Novels, short stories, etc. However, most of journalists and novel writers often
use these statements frequently and flexibly. However, there are some kinds of
passive sentence to be used in scientific and technical writings. The articles about
scientific information typically contain more passive voice than others.
2.2.

Approaches

The issues of passive voice in Vietnamese have always been the most
controversial

among

Vietnamese

linguists. Their

different

approaches

to

Vietnamese passive sentences could be put into two groups - the morphological

21


approach and the syntactic one: The former denies while the later acknowledges the
existence of passive sentences in Vietnamese
2.2.1. Morphological approach
2.2.1.1. The typical feature of isolating language
Some researchers like Tran Trong Kim (1936), M.B. Emeneau (1951) and L.
Cadière (1958) claim that Vietnamese is an isolating language whose verbs do not
have passive voice; therefore it does not have passive sentences as do inflecting
languages such as: Russian, French. To transform an active sentence to the passive
sentence, the verb in inflecting languages has to change its form from active voice
to passive voice. The verbs in Vietnamese do not change their forms so they do not
satisfy these strict morphological criteria of passive voice as a grammatical
category.
Not intending to contrast active voice and passive voice in Vietnamese, L.C.
Thompson (1965: 217) also considers that the constructions with “BỊ” or

“ĐƯỢC”are just the translation equivalents of passive constructions in IndoEuropean languages. He calls these logical passive expressions and does not
consider them as real passive constructions.
2.2.1.2. Morphological category
Beside the absence of passive voice as a morphological category, some
researchers base on the fact that Vietnamese is a topic-prominent rather than
subject-prominent language to deny the existence of passive sentences in
Vietnamese. They argue that in topic-prominent languages there must not
be passive constructions because passive constructions are typical of subjectprominent languages which have passive voice.
This argument could be traced back to Ch.N. Li & S.A Thompson’s
typological classification between two types of “topic-prominent languages” and
“subject-prominent languages” (1976). These authors claim that passive
constructions are very common in subject-prominent languages but usually absent
or rarely present in topic-prominent languages. And if they do occur in topicprominent languages, they usually carry a special meaning, like the adversity
passive in Japanese.

22